It was all going beautifully, in a manner that would make any Sox fan proud: Yankees roll into town for a late-season showdown. The Sox, boosted by a division lead and recent series of dramatic wins at Fenway Park, seemingly plunge their bats into the heart of New York baseball by taking a decisive lead in front of a riotous baseball crowd. After seven innings, Boston is five runs ahead and sitting pretty after a strong pitching effort by Daisuke Matsuzaka. Having the seemingly rare experience of Dice-K not imploding for an inning, the Sox turn to Okajima and Papelbon to finish the job.

And then it all turns in what feels not like a minute for Boston, but an eternity. Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano unleash home runs on Oki, the least likely Red Sox pitcher to give up back-to-backs. Johnny Damon fires off a double that scores the just-walked Melky Cabrera.

Things aren't looking good, so the Sox turn to Papelbon to put Derek Jeter away. Oops - Jeter and Bobby Abreu smack the kid around until Alex Rodriguex dashes Red Sox hopes with a shot to the outfield that brings the score to the Yankees' side, 8-7. And that's where it stays for the rest of the night.

What's to be said? It's going to be a hell of a weekend at Fenway, because both of these teams will have to claw at each other in order to escape unscathed. The lead is down to 4 1/2. The Yankees aren't going out without a fight. The Sox have to step up and deliver. We'll see if they do today, when Josh Beckett goes up against Chien-Ming Wang during a late afternoon game.

-- Memo to Bill Belichick: When your team has just been busted for violating NFL rules, follow up on each and every promise you make. For instance, when you say that you are going to comment further on what's going on, you make sure to comment further on what's going on. It doesn't have to be much - we know you're focused on Sunday's game against San Diego - but let it be something. Because otherwise, folks are going to start to call you a cheater AND a liar. In related news, props to the Globe for including the following gem of a line into today's story about the lack of commenting: "In his seven-minute press conference, Belichick said the phrase "moving on" at least nine times, and only Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell's fictional newscaster from the movie "Anchorman," laced more sentences with the words "San Diego."

Image of "Anchorman" from Amazon.